MEXICO — A community forum on addiction issues will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, at Mountain Valley Middle School.

Rumford Police Chief Stacy Carter said it’s part of the Western Maine Addiction Task Force’s efforts to inform the community of the issues of heroin and other drug addictions.

Carter will facilitate the forum, with assistance from other Task Force members, including interim Police Chief Jeffrey Lange of Paris.

The newly-formed Task Force is a collaborative group of federal, state, local and county government officials, private organizations, community nonprofits and concerned resident who have stake in the health and well-being of Western Maine communities.

Carter attended the task force meeting Sept. 9 in Paris to help coordinate a regionwide strategy to combat drug addiction.

“We need to continue the effort. We need to expand it in all areas of the county and work collaboratively,” he said, at that meeting.

According to Sun Media archives, Carter suggested he, local police chiefs and Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant get together to discuss policy regarding drug addicts.

Also attending the Paris meeting were Sheri Blodgett and Heather Conley, both of Rumford, who have become community activists after witnessing firsthand the harm addiction to heroin and other drugs can cause. They recently formed a Facebook page called “River Valley Fight Against Heroin.”

Blodgett’s son and stepson are both addicted to the narcotic and she decided she could no longer sit on the sidelines, she said.

“I am sick of people dying,” she said. “I don’t go to bed without my phone. I’d panic. I couldn’t imagine getting that phone call,” she said at the Paris meeting.

Conley admitted she’s an addict, even though she’s been sober for 10 years. But she’s witnessing her sister die right before her eyes, she said.

“I am watching my loved ones walk around with scabs on their faces and their bodies, killing themselves daily. I can’t do it anymore,” Conley said, according to Sun Media records.

She’s aware there are options for them, but some don’t have insurance, others don’t know where to turn and some are afraid of retribution from law enforcement because they’re using drugs, she said.

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